Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Well, well.. it's been a fun month or so since we last spoke. Another birthday and 2 holidays have come and gone and everyone is getting along nicely.. at least for the most part as long as you don't ask me on a daily basis and just take the whole picture...

Anyway, Olivia had her 9th.. that's right 9th birthday celebration.. of course it was something of a tri-celebration because we did cupcakes and special dinner on her birth date, followed by more cake on Thanksgiving day, and finally a trip into NYC to see Shrek with her mom and friend from school... overall I think she enjoyed herself. Oh, and that's right, the following week we went back to NYC so she and Kira could go to the American Girl store to spend her b-day money.. and I took the boys with Grammy around Rockefeller center followed by a quick trip to Aunt Carol and Uncle Henry's house for their annual holiday gathering. It's been a few years since we have been able to make it, and holy moly, I forgot what we missed; there had to have been at least 20 different hot chafing trays to choose from - lest we EVER underestimate Auntie and Unc.

So it wasn't necessarily a white Christmas, but came pretty close considering the white BLAST we got the week before Christmas. And this was one of those storms that actually swamped us here at the Jersey shore more than the more northern and western parts of the area. I think the final total was about 20-22" in my yard with 3-4' drifts. This used to be a chair on the back porch. So it took a little while to shovel on out... and with some planning, the neighborhood finally got cleared out. And of course you cannot have a little hard work without rewards. Good thing we didn't have to get out the back door for anything. At least the kids got out to play a little before it got too heavy... of course they would make a beeline for the play set after they were told not too... but also had a little snowball fight.. and yes that's Cooper under that hat. And alas Tae would spring forth doing his best Randy imitation from A Christmas Story.... he lasted just about as long in this suit to take the picture and WAS NOT happy out in the snow. And what the heck.. a little play out in the snow and this is what happens???? Lightweights, everyone of them... Cooper after day 2 of hanging out in the snow... Kira at the other end of the couch... and Tae (who didn't even go out day 2) with Olivia.

So we are thinking that Cooper and Tae are getting along OK... unsolicited hugs??? yeah that's a good start, but for Cooper to actually initiate the sharing of his trains??? that's amazing!! And tell me what's better then the pure laughter of a baby???

So on to Christmas.... and the annual construction of the gingerbread house... other than the Amityville Horror white bleeding walls, I think it came out OK. And the multicultural wall of holiday cheer... and the tree with what is classified as 'scaling back this year'... HA!!!! But it's all worth it in the morning when you see the wonderment of the kids... And while we were happy that Grammy was able to get out and see the 'down south' Sattan, she was missed.. but the kids had a good time opening her packages.. Cooper loved his monorail... and of course Tae loved the bag that his gift came in... Do you think that Kira likes her new American Girl - 'Julie'? And talk about a couple of lady killers that are going to cause some trouble when they grow up... Cooper and his cousin Bradley.. or 'little Ron' as we sometimes call him (for those who know Ron and I, they cannot argue with that classification).

So on to New Years.. and the celebration was anything but that... we went up to the mountains to spend New Years with Tanny at his Pocono 'chalet'. Sorry no significant pictures to share except for a quick video of Kira trying to ski... please forgive the poor quality because it was taken on my phone while trying to follow her down the hill. This was her only her second day after spending the first day just tucked into PopPop tandem skiing; I just took my board off, walked her halfway up the hill, got her in position and let her go. Hopefully next time she will learn how to turn.... and I wish I had some more video because Olivia is a regular ski monster now after only 2 or 3 times hitting the slopes between last year and this year. At this rate Cooper is next and we should have Tae on a board before he is out of diapers.

So finally, as I sit here with post-holiday blinders on trying to avoid having to pack everything up... I have to share our most recent awesome bit of information. So the mail man dropped off a nice package to us care of Tae's foster family. It contained a wonderful folk tale book on both Hangul and English along with a personal note saying how happy the foster mother is that Tae has adapted so well to our family... she actually follows our blog ( to Jo Young-sun we say annyeong haseyo and komapsumnida). And the best part was that we got to see our little boy on the 2010 Holt Korea calendar. When Susan and I first met Tae, we were told that he had pictures taken to be in the Holt International calendar which obviously made us so proud and excited. However, when we bought the Holt International calendar this year, we were so disappointed to see that Tae was not in it. However, we had a suspicion that possibly there was a Korea-specific calendar of which they were speaking. Lo and behold... we received it in our package today.... Mr. February....

Sooo... OK... all caught up now.... off to put something together for dinner.... talk again soon.

Scott